“This year the Diski activation coincided with the FIFA World Cup, so the excitement generated was quite literally at fever pitch,” said Ads24’s Brand Manager, Marise van der Lith. “We have found that by creating fun and engaging experiences that speak directly to the mass market titles, agency staff are able to fully engage with the messaging and experience the titles in the same way as their readers would.”

#Ads24Diski18 held activations at a number of agencies across Johannesburg and Cape Town, and in the cases where Ads24 wasn’t able to visit an agency, desk drops featuring insights and an interactive game, as well as an invitation to take part in the online tournament, were delivered.

Snippets of information about Ads24’s mass market titles, Soccer Laduma, Daily Sun, Kick Off and Die Son were presented during gameplay and when the players shared their results on social media.

The objective was to get agencies to experience the market first-hand and to engage with the idea of thinking beyond just print or digital advertising seeing as Ads24 is always exploring ways to engage in a meaningful and memorable way with advertisers.

The success of the campaign was clear from the numbers. Last year 2 530 games were played with over 13 337 goals, but this year the figures rose to 2 741 with a staggering 22 060 goals scored. Agency contenders were also keen to share their results on social media, with more than double the amount of shares on twitter than in 2017 (776 shares on twitter compared with last year’s 436 shares).